After such a busy time in Russia and Christmas in Wales, we hadn't given the first thought to our four night stop over in Vienna, Austria on the way back to the London. Which is why when we landed on Friday evening, we felt somewhat surprised.
After navigating our way through Moscow on an underground written in an entirely different alphabet, finding our way to the apartment we had hired in Vienna was a piece of cake. What's more, our apartment was so glorious we would have been happy to never leave! It even came equipped with a washing machine - something which made our hearts sing after living out of a backpack and wearing the same thing for the past week!
We stepped out to pick up some dinner - McDonald's, where they forgot the meat in Brad's burger of all things (he was so mad I thought he'd punch a hole in the wall) and spent the rest of the night cosied up, doing washing and reading. Russia had taken it out of us and we slept like babies.
The next day we bounced out of bed, all set to explore. We spent the morning at Naschmarkt - an amazingly big flea, food and everything in between market in the city, where we brought a few treats, including the best hot dogs we have ever had! The next stop was the famous Hotel Sacher for their legendary Sacher torte - a Viennese Chocolate Cake, which is mouth wateringly good.
Time flew by as we popped into various shops (can anyone ever pass up a New Year Sale?), as well as visited the beautiful Stephansdom Cathedral in the city centre. After five hours and some dreadful rain, we decided to head back home, via the supermarket where we had the luxury of buying food to cook ourselves. Its funny the things you miss!
We had a relaxing evening, recouping strength lost in Russia, playing cards and watching television - all topped off with a dinner of Wienner Snitzchel!
The next day we had planned to visit the neighbouring country of Slovakia - an hour and fifteen minutes away by train. Vienna and Bratislava are the world's two closest capital cities, so we thought it was rather foolish to not take advantage of this and tick off another country while we were so close. Getting there was a breeze, despite forgetting our Passports, and we passed into this creepy little country with no fuss whatsoever!
There's not much to say about this place really... We visited the castle on the hill, which offers an interesting view as on one side you can see the pretty Old Town and on the other, its nothing but big, angry blocks erected during the Communist era.
We then meandered our way down through the town and into the historical old centre for a look around. It was cold, bucketing down with rain and I was in dire need of a loo - suffice to say I wasn't in the best mood and may have taken it out on this place. After two hours we felt we'd seen it all and headed back to the train station, just in time for the 3.42pm back to Vienna. Thank god - Bratislava is where they filmed the Hostel movies and based on these, we wouldn't have wanted to get caught here after dark!
Darkness had set across Vienna when we got back and as a result, we decided to take a long, scenic walk back home to take in Vienna's glorious buildings at night. The first stop was Belvedere Palace which was stunning, alongside everything else in Vienna! If we had to choose one thing to fault about Vienna, it has to be the fact that almost everything is beautiful so as a result, nothing really stands out. Everywhere you look you're met with beautiful facade after beautiful facade - we barely got our camera out (which says it all for us really) as we were just too overwhelmed!
The next day, after a few skype calls, we set off ready to make the most of our last full day in the city. We strolled down the main shopping street, popping in to make a few purchases, wandered around the beautiful ring road and really just soaked it all up. There was so much to see that even the most prettiest building that elsewhere might have received a standing ovation, barely got a look in!
Perhaps the biggest highlight was the Museum Quarter, where there are countless museums, each one more beautiful than the other! Palace after palace, after cathedral after cathedral - it was enough to want to head back to Bratislava! At least things were far simpler there!
That night we had arranged to meet up with the son of one of Brad's family friends, who lived in Vienna - John and his wife Andrea. What was going to be a casual drink and dinner, turned into a far more bustling night than we expected - great fun! We met up at the Einstein Cafe and from here went on to a Belgian pub with over 700 different types of beer, where we met up with some of his German work colleagues. When this closed up at 1am, we set off to what was described to us as 'the very worst Australian bar in Vienna - great fun!' True to form, this place was horrid and filled with drunken teenage backpackers, but it provided some great laughs. What's more, when we left at 2.30am, it was snowing - lovely! It was a great night and the perfect way to end our lengthy holiday!
This morning we woke up with just enough time to pack, clean the apartment and nip off to the airport, walking through a downfall of snow - beautiful!
Sadly our holiday has come to an end, but when I think back to 18 days ago when we were finishing up at work before Christmas, riddled with homesickness, it seems like a very long time indeed. This year is going to be a busy one and with many changes at work, I'm both curious and nervous to see what 2013 will bring. It brings a busy January I know that much and this time next week I'll be at Heathrow flying out to Madrid for work, followed by Cannes the week after. The traditional January hibernation will have to come a month later for us in February.
Love to all back home in the sun.
Xx
Privyet from Moscow!
Well the overnight train journey was an experience, but it was certainly better than expected. We jumped on board at midnight and after a few initial heart palpitations about the very hot and claustrophobic confines, it was all fine once we were unpacked and lying down. Brad fell asleep straight away, while I lay awake for what I felt was all night, but when the train arrived into Moscow at 9am I was fast asleep. We didn't even hear the banging on our door at first and when we did, we had just five minutes to get dressed and get out - eek!
We were greeted by our guide Edward, who looked every bit the solemn Russian man with his scowl and cossack hat, but his dry sense of humour was soon very evident, as well as his extreme patriotism. True to the stereotype, everything in Moscow was the world's best or the world's biggest simply because it is in Moscow (which actually is the world's biggest city). It was only after showing us the world's biggest bell which was never actually used, that Edward grudgingly admitted that Russians are famed for making things be the biggest and best, but utterly useless at the same time!
Straight away we were loaded on to the bus and set off on our tour of Moscow, stopping for a real 'OMG pinch me!' moment when we saw the Kremlin and the main church of Moscow all lit up from afar!
Needing breakfast and a good solid teeth brushing, we were dropped off in the famous Red Square, where we had breakfast in the world's most expensive shopping mall - thankfully, the cafeteria we ate at wasn't expensive in the slightest! Breakfast was eaten at lightening speed so we could head back out into Red Square to take photos of the Kremlin and St Basils cathedral. We then took a guided tour of St Basils, which is a beautiful, brightly coloured, lolliepop looking cathedral built during the reign of Ivan the Terrible! Two brothers built St Basils and when it was completed 10 years later, old Ivan asked them if they could ever build anything more beautiful. The brothers said yes, which was the wrong answer as Ivan promptly blinded them both as a reward for their good work so they'd never build anything again. Ahhhh Russia!
We then had a few minutes up our sleeved to take photos and we decided to spend them jumping around in snow, taking photo after photo - much to the amusement of locals! Russians have a reputation for being glum, but actually they just believe that overt displays of happiness and emotion are signs of a dim-witted mind! As we pranced, giggled and jumped around, they probably thought we were special needs itself, but I swear I thought I saw a few crack a smile. Especially when I jumped up and landed up to my arse in snow!
Edward ran a tight ship and rallied us up like sheep. There was no doubt in our minds that he'd leave us if we were so much as 10 seconds late, so we scurried after him and jumped back on the bus to continue the tour. We drove around seeing it all, stopping riverside to take photos of a giant monument to St Peter who founded St Petersberg. The monument was actually built as Christopher Columbus for the Americans, but after they refused to buy it, the sculptor sold it to his mate, who just so happened to be the Mayor of Moscow. A quick name change later and he was Peter the Great!
We continued on to Sparrow Hill, which looked out over the city, including the Oylmpic stadium from the 1980 Moscow Games. Edward rather dryly explained how these games weren't very successful as they were boycotted by many nations due to Russia's presence in Afghanistan. Now every such nation is there themselves - from his tone, I gather he was not impressed with the world's attitude to Russia during this time!
Russia is absolutely huge - so much so that it covers 11 different time zones and to catch a train to Vladivostock takes 10 full days. They also share a border with North Korea, so everyone is on tender hooks about this and keeping a very close eye on things says our wee Edward.
Our next stop was a part of town famed for the circus. Some of the group had decided to go to the circus the next night and were picking up tickets. We had opted not to as there were so many other things we wanted to see, and they also included lots of animals which we weren't overly happy with. Sally was vehemently opposed to this, so it was an easy choice to say no. We later learned they had bears riding bulls, and would jump from bull to bull - jaysus, can you imagine how they came up with that idea!? We swanned around posing with the clown statues, and I spent more than a healthy amount of time in the bathroom sick as a dog. Russia shook all of our health up a bit!
Back to the Kremlin we went for a tour of this amazing area. We had STRICT instructions to not veer off paths, take photos of the guards, and to stay on the tracks at all times. Edward said we would be warned with a very sharp whistle blow only twice - he never said what would happen next, but by the look of the weaponry on the guards it didn't take a genius to figure it out! The Kremlin was very big and home to many beautiful churches - so much so that you were almost tired of it all! Here we learned more about Ivan the Terrible and how he beat his son to death for allowing his wife to visit him without wearing make up. Edward explained that this was a great personal tragedy for Ivan however and he was devastated by his death - ummmm, forgive me if I don't feel sorry for him! This really hammered home the point that Russians like their leaders to be fearless and tough. As Edward put it, liberal leaders are considered to be 'very weak'!
After checking into our hotel, a quick kip was on the cards after the relatively sleepless night before and after an hour power nap, we set off for Hamish and Sally's room for a few drinks in honour of Ham's birthday. None of us could be bothered venturing out again, so we had an easy dinner in the hotel, washed down with a few Russian beers.
The next morning, after a rather dismal breakfast, we set off on our tour of Moscow's Underground. Sounds a bit unusual, but not when you see these amazing underground cathedrals. During the communist era, Stalin had everyone living in shitty communal flats, so he built 'underground palaces' to help bring beauty to the people. While they're very impressive, I'd sooner prefer my own kitchen and toilet than gold and crystal chandeliers at my local train station; however if I'd said something like this at the time, I'd be whisked off by the KGB never to be seen again! Best I keep my opinions to myself then!
Our tour leader then dropped us off at the pretty Arabat St where we were left to our own devices. Off the back of advice from very helpful colleagues, I had a list of things to do my arms length, so we decided to walk to the Cold War Bunker, which is a relatively unknown phenomenon which you can see. It was a nice long walk through Red Square and along the river, an hour in total, which gave us a chance to soak it all up and head off the beaten track. Despite the lack of signage and English, we managed to find it and after a very confusing 10 minutes, we managed to convince them to let us inside and sign up for a tour in Russian - we just wanted to see it!
We had a spare hour before our tour so we headed into a tiny wood cottage which seemed to serve food. It was like a homage to the feline species - pictures of cats everywhere, giving away postcards of cats, cats available on site for petting - tres creepy!
The Bunker itself was pretty surreal and is situated 65 ft underground and is 7km, built under a yellow shell of a building which is simply there to look inconspicuous. It was built during The Cold War and can withstand a nuclear attack. No one knew about it at the time, but today it is obviously public. It was fascinating, despite not understanding a word of Russian! Brad even got to try on an AK47 for size!
2.5 hours later we caught the underground (a stressful event in itself given there is no logic presented whatsoever, nor a recognisable alphabet) back to Red Square, where we fancied soaking up the ambience by night.
By this stage we were peckish and decided to jump off the tube early and head to an amazing Ukrainian restaurant we had heard about. The food was a mixture of delight and disgust - dried, raw fish being the real low point. Afterwards it was back to Ham and Sally's room to finish off the birthday cake from the night before, then straight to sleep.
We were flying out to Vienna the next afternoon, so we just had a lazy morning before thankfully finding our way to the airport given the confusing public transport!
Next stop, Austria!
Xx
As I type this I am sitting in the hotel lobby, waiting for midnight to roll round, when we will board our overnight train taking us from St Petersburg to Moscow.
We have had an amazing time on our journey through Russia so far and we already feel as if we have seen so much, never mind the fact we still have the most iconic city of Russia to go!
Back in March when we booked this tour with four of our friends, Hamish, Sally, Brook and Steph, we knew we were in for a very cold and different New Years. I've always wanted to go to Russia, so this trip has been a dream realised and despite the lengthy bureaucratic process one has to go to just to get into the country, it has already been worth every effort.
St Petersburg hasn't disappointed and it is even prettier than we could have imagined.
We landed on Sunday evening slightly disoriented thanks to the +4 hour time difference, and were picked up by our tour leader and driven to our very central and HUGE hotel with very informative commentary. Our guide was very informative from the word go, and after a quick introduction to the tour, we all headed out for dinner, choosing a local Russian restaurant down the road. Straight away we were met with the authentic Russian experience - seedy decor circa 1980 which could barely be seen through a haze of cigarette smoke. Step right up for the cliche Russian experience! We fumbled our way through the menu, which threw a few surprises of the good and bad kind our way, had a few beers, and then set off for a quick walk to a local mall in search of a cossack hat! As Sally and Hamish were jet lagged, we went back to the hotel at 11pm.
This is where things took a turn for the worst. Given it was 7pm UK time I found it very difficult to get to sleep and unfortunately lay there wide awake until 6am when I eventually drifted off for two hours. Brad was in a different position altogether and woke up at 1am with a stomach bug. The water in St Petersburg has giardia in it but we have been careful not to drink it - that said, perhaps the salad leaves had been washed in it, or he caught something entirely unrelated. Either way, he spent the night lying on the bathroom floor violently vomiting, before retiring to bed with a migraine - great start!
Off to a shaky start, the next day was New Years Eve, so we had no choice but to brave the day with a smile. We kicked off the day with a tour of the city, seeing all matters of beautiful sights. Kicking through parks in knee deep snow, taking photo after photo of glorious colourful churches, dressing and undressing every five minutes to counteract the sub zero temperatures and then the steamingly warm interiors - it was the perfect way to start the tour.
The real fly in the ointment was the face that the Hermitage Museum - perhaps the most famous museum in the world - was closed! New Years is the biggest holiday in the calendar for the Russians and the city effectively shuts down for the two day holiday, which meant the Hermitage was closed. We were all unbelievably gutted to say the least, but St Petersberg provided more than enough to keep us entertained!
At 2pm we were off to explore on our own, well in our cosy six pack really. The first stop was the garish and colourful Church of our Saviour's Spilled Blood, which apparently has an entire interior made from mosaic. I say apparently as we wouldn't know - it was closed! Our ill feeling was appeased greatly by the fact we learned we will be visiting its bigger and better counterpart in Moscow.
Right across the road was a cute wee souvenir and craft market, which we all left clutching at least one set of Babushka dolls! We then walked along the frozen river Neva - St Petersberg's main river, which despite its 850m width, was completely iced over. We watched a barge break through the ice for what we later learned was to set up for the evening's fireworks, wondering how on earth Russians are so fond of ice swimming.
Here's a little unknown fact for you - St Petersberg is referred to as the 'Venice of the North', as it is made up of 49 islands and 61 tributaries connecting to the main river. You learn something new every day...
Our next stop was the exquisite Palace Square, where we would be spending New Years. To rub salt in the wound, we saw the amazing Hermitage from the outside, before setting off on our way down the main st, Nevsky Prospekt - naturally written all in cyrillic, so no one could understand whether they were on the right track. Nevertheless we made it home, via Tekempo - an amazing crepe fast food restaurant (crepes are a national dish here). I managed to get an hour nap, before we were layered up and on our way to dinner.
Our tour included a traditional three course meal, complete with canapes and a liquid called Semogot which is 60 per cent alcohol and absolutely disgusting! To make matters worse pork goulash was on the menu, alongside potato pancakes. After dinner we were dropped off in Palace Square, where it seemed the entire city was out to celebrate with us. Despite the cold the time passed quickly, thanks to a group of men from Uzbekistan who took a liking to Brad and then yours truly. While it was funny at first, getting photos and not understanding a single word the other was saying, the novelty soon wore off - on our side at least. They on the other hand, couldn't get enough of us - the mind boggles to think what we looked like to them. Either way, they thought we were hilarious looking! In the end after a few hours, we discreetly slipped off in the crowd to another spot, with Brad turning off the conspicuous glow in the dark Santa hat he was given by one fellow - it was a beacon for unwanted attention!
Shortly before midnight the big screens flashed to the Kremlin, in Moscow for the big countdown and annual speech from President Putin. The fact we couldn't understand anything didn't bother us - our guide, Anastacia, has explained that he says the same thing every year: 'This year was tough but the next will be better!' And then... Fireworks, lanterns, streamers and extreme party poppers galore! It was a wonderful experience!
But the fun didn't stop there - at 2am there was going to be an amazing fireworks display, so we sucked it up, ignored the freezing toes and continued on with standing in the square. The time soon flew after Brad met a Russian guy from just out of Siberia, who despite not speaking English, had us entertained for hours. We stationed ourselves along the River Neva for what was honestly the very best fireworks display we had ever seen. Set to a soundtrack of songs from famous Russian Composers, some remixed, like Tchaikovzky, we were blown away for a full 30 minutes. I'm afraid a Warehouse Boom Box will just never be the same again! We walked home with the thousands of others walking up Nevsky Prospekt like salmon in a stream - everyone was out, children, grandparents, and even monkeys and racoons!
The next morning we had opted to do an additional tour that gave more insight into the history of the Russian Tzars and the fall of the Royal family. We kicked off the tour with a visit to the fortress, which is home to a beautiful Orthodox Church where most of the Tzars are buried. They have a bloody, dramatic and at times quite evil history, but the story that sticks in our minds the most is of the last ruling Tzar before the communist uprising - the Romonov family. When the communist movement took over, the Tzar stood down and then on the advice of trusted informers, he fled with his family of four children. Sadly the train was intercepted just before Siberia and the family were held prisoner for five years before they were put to death by firing squad. 80 years later, their remains were found and after much deliberation it was decided that they would be exhumed and buried in the church. It was a lengthy and very political process, which involved the Duke of Edinburgh giving blood to prove it was the Romonovs (he was a relative) and the DNA was tested three separate times all over the world. Everyone was found, bar the youngest son and daughter called Anastacia. There have been quite a few different movies about this missing princess, including one from Disney. A woman in the States had claimed to be her for many years, but upon the findings of the Romonov family, her body was exhumed and it was found she was no relation. Anyway, recently they did find Anastacia's remains so it seems there was a lot of fantasy and mystery about not a lot at all. Russian history is just fascinating!
Lunch was included and very much welcome by the time we stopped, and our four course Russian meal went down a treat.
The final stop was the Yusupov Palace, which we were looking forward to. As we couldn't see the Hermitage, Yusupov Palace was the next best thing as this grand building is not only beautiful, but also a history hotspot. The Yusupov Palace was home to the Yusupov family, who were essentially a very rich family who were BFFs to the Tzars and had their fingers in a ridiculous amount of pies!
After a tour of the beautiful rooms, which included a theatre and ballroom, we set off down to the cellars to see the assassination spot of Rasputin - a famous prophet around 1917 and a friend of Tzar Romonov.
The story basically goes that Rasputin had been getting on a few peoples nerves due to his womanising, the fact he was German (this was during WWI when Russia were losing the war), but mostly due to the fact that he was in favour with the Tzar and the Yusupovs didn't like the advice he was giving to the Tzar. After many unsuccessful attempts to lure Rasputin to their palace (Rasputin refused as he foresaw they would try to kill him), they eventually managed to convince him to come. Felix Yusupov (the youngest Yusupov and widely considered to be the best looking man in Europe) had been plotting an assassination with four others, including a prolific officer, politician and doctor. They had packed their cakes full of poison, so much that one bite would be enough to kill four horses instantly. Well, wise old Rasputin gobbled five and barely blinked an eye! Felix was starting to panic by this stage - especially when the poisonous wine failed to have the slightest effect. Eventually he tired of waiting and shot him straight in the head. Calling out that Rasputin was dead, the doctor came down to the cellar to declare him dead when nek minute, Rasputin jumped up and chased them! They kept shooting but Rasputin managed to escape out into the courtyard, before he was shot point blank again. They popped his body in the car and dumped him in an ice hole cut into the river, but when his body was found two days later the autopsy revealed he had died from drowning. He was still alive after all of that!? Now all these years on, it has been revealed that apparently MI6 had something to do with his death. Rasputin was telling the Tzar to withdraw from the war and of course, Britain didn't like that as it meant they would have to face Germany on their own. There you go - your very own James Bond tale straight out of 1917!
With six more hours to kill before our overnight train, we then set off for the Kazaan Cathedral where we watched a small part of an Orthodox mass service. They have no instruments in Russian Orthodox churches, but amazing acapella choirs and we were keen to hear a few songs.
Our final stop for the evening was a Russian buffet type cafeteria which are littered everywhere and are perhaps one of the cheapest and very best ways to try out the local cuisine. We spent a few hours here with the rest of the group laughing ourselves sick - never more so when Sally had the misfortune of slipping over and ending up wearing her bowl of goulash!
Love to all!
